that there were more than just monetary influences that needed to be taken into account to address the problem. He noted that since the large cities like Edo had become the center of large markets one had to consider the costs of tariffs and transportation from distant provinces as well as the costs of land and housing in the cities into final prices. Additionally, there was a breakdown of the traditional class distinctions where commoners were able to buy goods that were once reserved for the higher classes which pushed up prices. Finally, he pointed out that as the merchant class grew in power they began to collude and fix prices above what was normal. It was all of these factors together, in addition to the monetary influences, that caused wealth and power to shift away from the shogun and into the hands of the merchants which prompted the debasement of coinage leading to inflation and exorbitant prices. Works Regulations for Study (Gakusoku, 1715) Distinguishing the Way (Bendō, 1717) Master Sorai's Teachings (Sorai sensei tōmonsho, 1724) He has also been credited for the invention of ko shogi, a large shogi variant, dated to before 1694. References Bibliography Najita, Tetsuo. (1998). Visions of Virtue in Tokugawa Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Shirane, Haruo. (2006). Early Modern Japanese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. Totman, Conrad. (1982). Japan Before Perry. Berkeley: University of California Press. Tucker, J., ed. (2006). Ogyu Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendo And Benmei (Asian Interactions and Comparisons). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Yamashita, Samuel Hideo. (1994). Master Sorai's Responsals: An Annotated Translation of Sorai Sensei Tōmonsho. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Translation of some chapters of Ogyû Sorai's On Distinguishing Names Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. (1989). A History of Japanese Economic Thought. London & New York: Routledge. Japanese writers of the Edo period Advisors to Tokugawa shoguns 17th-century Japanese philosophers Japanese philologists Confucianism in Japan 1666 births 1728 deaths Japanese Confucianists Chess variant inventors 18th-century Japanese historians 18th-century Japanese philosophers 18th-century Japanese translators